Our new house and our new camera!

Annyeong ha se yo everbody!

Know its been a while since we posted on our website, but we have been SOOO busy! Things here at school have been extremely chaotic (more than usual!!!) because our 10 day summer vacation is coming up at the end of July..so we have been writing reports, setting tests, marking tests, doing phone teaching... etc etc etc all so that everything can be done by next week Friday!!! On top of this we have had a speech contest to organise and a field trip too! Thank goodness Monday is a public holiday..yayyy..long weekend!!! For the speech contest, all the classes had to learn 2 or 3 sentences about their favorite animal -WHAT a mission! Two weeks later, and some of the kids could only say as much as 'my....', or nothing at all for that matter! Other kids, like my UCLA class (like one of the naughtiest classes in the school) really blew us away with the way they memorised their speeches - especially Tony Kim and Terry. Tony Kim was a Polar bear and Terry was a Pig. They really did a good job!! But trying to teach kids an English speech, when they cant even speak English, or read(!), was one of the most painful things I've ever had to do!!!! And I didnt even have to teach the berkeley kids (youngest kids!)..I hear it was a pain like no other! The field trip was to the Samsung childrens museum in Seoul - really just heaven for kids..they get to do all sorts of stuff like do water experiments, air experiments, build a house with soft 'bricks' etc etc. As u can imagine, we all got back with no hair on our heads from all the stress..ok wait, no, I think that was only me..cos I had to control Berkeley!! "Ok Berkeley, everyone hold hands so we can cross the big road"!!!!!! yes, believe it or not, we actually made it across the road without any injuries..well, maybe a few injuries on certain kids would have been welcomed!!! No, only joking, these kids are bad, but we know its not their faults..their parents just have no idea about discipline. Kim even said it to us - she hates Korean mothers cos they think that their children are the best on the planet and that they cant do anything wrong. So, if a child says they have a stomach ache everytime they eat their food, the parents feel sorry for the child EVERY time, so the child gets away with murder, every time.

Nikon D70S and Sigma 170-500mm lens

Well, since Sue left, our lessons have been a little different ...Mrs Lee decided not to hire an extra Korean teacher to take Sues place, so we have been given more lessons (only a couple more thank goodness!)..but some days we take 2 classes at once, but we get a helper korean teacher - Dennis or Jessica. But Dennis and Jessica are university students (studying english)..so many times now they just havent pitched at work cos they have been too hungover ..which basically ruins our entire day..cos we now have to handle 2 classes at once by ourselves..in 2 separate rooms!!! I'm sorry but the right half of my body is NOT detachable from the left half! Today during my 'double class'..jessica disappeared to do the girls hair in richs class (which is a story for a anohter day!), and Dennis politely shut himself in the material room to catch up on some sleep!!!Can u believe it! Just the other day we had summer semester tests for the kindergarten kids..and I had to give 2 classes their DIFFERENT tests, at the SAME time! Now, given the fact that most of the kids cant read, let alone read English..made it one of the most difficult hours of my life!!! Trying to stop kids from cheating (cos thats all they ever do), as well as trying to explain things to them so that they can finish the test!!!! I almost wanted to strangle Dennis!

Oh, we had to laugh, the other day, Kim told us we had to come to school smartly dressed apparently for a photo..so here we thought, maybe a wonderland photo, but NO, it was actually a bunch of photos for a catalogue for some upcoming minister of education! Well the news about smart clothes didnt manage to get to Michael, so he came to school without a tie, and Rich was feeling a  bit sick, so David and I ended up doing all the 'posing'!!! We had to sit in like a 'boardroom' and act like we were having a conference with Korean people involved in education. We were given pens and booklets to make it look more real, and we had to all look serious, then all laugh, etc etc etc and in the end, they even took a few shots of me shaking hands with the 'minister-to-be'! So definitely want to get hold of that catalogue when its done!!!!!! But what was really funny, was that hardly any of the people in the boardroom spoke English (not even the photographer!) So Dave and I just had to guess what to do!! What a situation, it was hilarious!

Speaking of Dave..well his girlfriend (Amy) is finally graduating from university next week, so she is hopefully flying out from the uk at the end of next week some time..so he is REALLY happy..I can honestly say I know how they feel!! They are not sure what she is going to do here, cos her degree certificate obviously takes a while to arrive, so she cant apply for the teaching visa yet. So I guess shes just going to park off for a while and have a break..i'm sure she needs it after all those years of studying!! When the certificate eventually arrives, she is either going to try and get her foot in the door here at wonderland (although dave is not sure that he wants to subject her to this place!), or they are going to try and find her a job at another school in Guri. Or alternatively, they are both going to look for jobs in Japan, or maybe just head back to the UK if Amy isnt happy.

Yes, Rich hasnt been feeling too well lately..he had a really bad cough at one stage so Kim went with us to the ear, nose and throat specialist, and he gave him some antibiotics - Kim obviously had to do the translating, but the specialist could speak a little English, and even managed to tell us that the soccer world cup is in south africa in 2010, and that mandela was our president!! Anyway the specialist was really cheap!! R50 for the consultation and about R70 for the medicine! Hows that!Anyway, the specialist was really worried when we went to pay for it all, cos we dont have korean medical insurance..so we had to try and convince him that R120 for a visit to a specialist is nothing compared to south africa!!!! Anyway, we just have normal travel insurance, so you have to pay R500 excess each time, so it wouldnt have been worth it to use it in this situation! But rich is much better now, cough is getting better..so all the thoughts of Korean TB and Birdflu that a few people mentioned (!!!) are not the case!!!!! Think it was just Bronchitis..cos rich went birding in the rain the saturday before!! Speaking of birding..Rich went with Tim and they managed to see some rare storks - so check out www.birdskorea.org. They are going out again this wknd-they've apparently got some secret directions to see some Shrenks bitterns..so hold thumbs!

Well, Monsoon season hasnt really hit us so far..unless of course I'm just expecting the rain to be like the showers we experienced in the Amazon Jungle!!! We have had a few days with some light drizzle..but thats it! Yesterday, was the first day that it was raining hard enough for us to decide to take a taxi to work! But the season only ends in sept, so we'll see! There have been monsoon warnings (by the military) all over the tv about the rain that is expected this time of year..so we are still waiting for the show!!! It is quite interesting to watch the weather reports here on the TV - sometimes they even show typhoons moving across the ocean ..sometimes right toward Seoul!

So, I guess the biggest news for this email is that we have bought a house near Oakpark in Pietermaritzburg...not to live in, just as an investment. Its a 3 bedroom simplex in Muswell heights. We already have tenants which is a bonus- the people that are selling the house to us want to live in it for another year or so, as they are building themselves another house. So we are very excited about that! But it has meant SOO much running around organising documents etc..Rich was out at 11pm the other night, running around Guri trying to find a fax machine! None of the fax machines he found were able to send the documents, until we looked on the internet and found that in Korea..u have to dial an international access code before your country code! So we had to dial like 001 before the 27! And no one that owned the fax machines even knew that..Rich had to tell THEM! Crazy! Also, the bank here has been really difficult to deal with. When we asked them for banks statements, they could only give us a statement certifying our current balance (i.e. not showing any transaction history!) and then still, they tell us that now that we have the statements, we arent allowed to touch the money in our accounts for 24 hours afterwards!!! CRAZY! Then the other day we decided that it was time to change the rest of our pounds into Won, cos the rate is quite good now..and Kim got a phone call like an hour later at the school saying that the bank want us to bring some money back cos they apparently cant exchange scottish pounds..only english pounds!!! And apparently it is like that all over Korea! So I guess scottish pounds just arent equivalent to english pounds...NNOOTTTT! Crazy bank.

So next week friday is vacation..thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have just decided to make it really relaxing..so we'll probably just find a pretty spot and stay there for the week - we are still looking. But the problem is that July is the PEAK season for Koreans to go on holiday..so the crowds are just going to be unbearable. Even Lonely Planet says AVOID peak season for travelling! We even told Emily (Korean teacher) that we wanted to try and find somewhere quiet to go to ..and her reply was..where are you going to go? YOUR APARTMENT???! Which basically just sums it all up! Maybe we'll do exactly that! Maybe do some daytrips, go ten-pin bowling, ice-skating maybe try our hand at golf??? We'll let you guys know! Also, we didnt want to do too much travelling in Korea at this time of year really, cos Autumn is SOO much prettier cos of of the trees changing colour, and of course, winter is going to be great! We're planning on going to try out some of the ski resorts that they rave about, maybe take some snowboarding lessons..and of course..there is definitely something more attractive about a temple in the snow! Also, sometimes they open outdoor ice-rinks where u can skate for dirt cheap..something else to look forward too! So today Rich and I are probably heading to the Technomart to buy our camera finally!!! We are heading towards buying the Nikon D70s (Digital SLR). Cant wait!! Dave is probably going to join us for the trip - he wants to try and get his hands on a Sony Xbox360..basically a Sony playstation.

Also, for those of you who know him, my brother, Wes, is finally getting married at Salt Rock (North coast) on the 23rd July. He is getting married to Sara - she's from England. Unfortunately, Rich and I wont be able to make it, but at least the rest of the family will be there, which is really good news. We are sure it is going to be a really special day for them! Well, thats all from this side! Hope everyone is keeping well!

Lots of love, us!

PS YAYYY, just been to buy our camera..YAYYY! We bought the Nikon D70S (a digital SLR camera), also a 28-300mm sigma macro lens, and a 170-500mm sigma lens too (Yes, It has been richs dream to get that lens for a while now!! Gail says it looks like a bazooka!). And we got it all for a great price too, as you would expect in Asia!! So we are SOOO excited now, we are probably going to get very little sleep tonight! Rich is busy playing with the camera...he managed to read the fine print on the shampoo bottle all the way from the other side of the room! Say 5m away!!!! Also, in the bus on the way home, we were sitting right at the back, and we could take an almost half-frame shot of the cars number plate in front of the bus!WOWWW! The guy also threw in a free UV filter, which was an added bonus! And of course, David got his Xbox360..so he is also in his element!!! We are all going to be smiling for a long time after this! Hopefully we can send you guys some good photos soon!